Baseball, basketball, soccer and football have attracted worldwide sports audiences, television viewers, farm teams, and annual traditions of spring or summer rituals for young players. Each sport has created a Hall of Fame for its most admired players. Special souvenirs and memorabilia are acquired by collectors, displayed, and preserved. “Ultimate” is an increasingly popular sport and fuses perhaps the best of football and soccer in a fast-moving format with emphasis on individual skill and team play. Groups of seven players scrimmage on a field that is about 70 yards goal-to-goal and about 40 yards wide. The teams advance toward the opposing team's goal line by tossing a flying disc from teammate to teammate. The disc curves, floats or even flies inverted to a teammate unless intercepted. Rapid development of a “catch and release” passing strategy is essential for winning.
Risk of injury is relatively low because player-to-player contact is limited, and players can only move when the disc is spinning. In 2014, the sport was officially recognized by the International Olympics Committee, and member associations include fifty-six countries representing more than 141,000 members. Survey results in 2013 estimated 5.1 million people played Ultimate in 2012, with a core (12 or more times) of 1.48 million, on a 5-year growth rate of 20% with no signs of slowing. In addition to college and amateur leagues and tournaments, two professional leagues have been organized in North America. Professional teams include the Madison Radicals, Seattle Rainmakers, Toronto Rush and Washington D.C. Current, and others.
Much of this growth extends from technical innovations in the game equipment. There is little doubt that the earliest disc derived from a product patented as U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,678 to WHAM-0® (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and sold under the tradename FRISBEE®. However, as play began to organize around teams, the radius of the disc was widened and the weight was about doubled. This results in more stable flight under windy conditions and the thicker edge lip improves the player's ability to put muscle into a throw. A greater variety of throws have been developed. Throws include forehand, backhand, overhand, hammer, thumber, blade, scoober, duck, and “chicken wing”, for example. Throw techniques are shown on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_disc_techniques, accessed 25 Feb. 2015) and for example in an animation by Brodie Smith (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdlpyazJxfQ, accessed 25 Feb. 2015).
Examples of plate holders suggest a possible solution. Robinson in U.S. Pat. No. 2,300,972 and Brown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,384 described clips that are spring-mounted to the back of a plate, the clips having at least one hook element for securing the plate to a wall. However, these devices attach themselves to rigid elements and are not adapted to softer plastic discs. The springs may result in progressive deformation of the disc. Further, these non-analogous devices cannot be used to stand a soft plate or a disc on a table and thus do not meet the objectives of the invention. The devices also do not permit indicia to be applied to an integral display surface.
Key objects of the invention include the capacity to display a flying disc with versatility, either as a pendent disc hanging on a wall or as an upright disc standing on a table or shelf, for example. A means for securing the disc so as to be suitable for display of the disc is needed and in such a way that damage to the disc is avoided. Because of the pliability of the disc and its aerodynamic body shape, a solution to these interrelated problems is only achieved by trial and error.